MEN - Short Program

I guess it's not too early to start since it's tonight!!!

- Will Chan break his own record?
- Will Dai overtake Chan?
- Will there be an upset?
- Will we see many quads?
- Will we see splatz-fest all over the rink?
- Will we see someone come out of nowhere and steal the spotlight?

Should there be any upset in Men's event, it should happen at the SP. There are dark horses with great quads who could surprise especially if the top guys have any slip. Watch for Nan Song and Kevin Reynolds if they land all their jumps to be in a podium position going into LP where Patrick Chan is darn hard to beat.

I haven't been excited for 4CC like this for years, mainly because both Chan and Takahashi are in here.

Patrick has to deliver his top game in SP in order to beat Takahashi's Japan National kind of SP. Even though the odds are all in Patrick's favor, I'm still very nervous for him. Ice is slippery plus so many ill wishes and jinxes on him, can Patrick does back to back perfect programs again? If he needs to get his falls out somewhere, I'd rather he does them in this competition and regroup himself for a strong worlds finish. Takahashi knew that he has to give out every ounce of what he has and capable to compete with Patrick. Any mistakes on technical front means he might be lost.

There is a big gap between the top two and the rest of the field. Among the second layer skaters which, to me, include Song, Rippon, Reynolds, Miner, and Dornbush, Song is the strongest and the steadiest of them all. He has the ability to pass over the top two skaters Chan and Takahashi should both of them falter. Song or Reynolds might be the best quad jumpers in this competition. Rippon has the ability to pass Song or even the top two if the top two have a major meltdown which is actually very unlikely, but his BV is less than Song's in his program I believe. I just don't see Reynolds, Miner, or Dornbush would be a threat to Chan or Takahashi under any situations. I wish Dornbush has a strong showing at this competition to silence the critics.

Jeremy Ten and Denis Ten are the third layer skaters to me. The rest are the fourth.

There is a very good article about Takahashi and Chan on Icenetwork. I hope it's OK to quote some of their words about themselves and each other here.

Chan on himself

"Luckily, even with the success, I'm still able to find things to fix, things to criticize myself about. I have great coaches [including Christy Krall and Eddie Shipstad] around me who are constantly nitpicking and also expanding my horizons. I don't stop; I'm just continuing to build, so that people are always chasing me. Hopefully, I'll never stand still."

and on Takahashi

"I don't think he necessarily needs two quads," he said. "Two quads is just something I'm so used to doing now. I've been doing it for the past season and a half. It's something I love to do, and it's a natural layout of the program for me.

"But Daisuke doesn't necessarily need two quads; he has such great skating skills [as good as] if not sometimes better than me. He needs probably a quad. He does beautiful triple Axels, and they get plus GOEs all the time, so he's not that far off."

Takahashi on the competition:

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know. I should do [a] perfect program, and I think I need two quads [in the free]. No minor mistakes. I also need to have the audience on my side."

On improving his program

"It's my weak point, the transitions," he said. "I always have lower scores. I need to build them up.

"The 5.5, I think, was too much. But some people give me low scores. Maybe after Four Continents, I am going to change [transitions in his free skate]. I am going to Detroit to work with [choreographer] Pasquale Camerlengo."